Hawthorne Disbands Police Department

Published January 15th, 2009

It was just two years ago that the city of Hawthorne opened up a small storage room and turned it into a police department. Now the city has decided to disband the department and some residents are not happy.

Vicky Logan, a business owner and a twenty year resident of the city of Hawthorne, does not agree that the city should go without a police department.

"I'm very disappointed in the leadership of our city," Vicky says.

When the police station was started in early 2007, it was the second highest in budget to the fire department costing the city $175,000 a year.

Vice Mayor John Martin says he does not agree with the decision, but hopes they can revisit the thought of having a police station again in the future.

"Mainly targeting budget reduction and revenue enhancements, the police were certainly an integral part of that," John says.

Chief Jack Donadio said, "It was a bad decision to make, the people of the community of Hawthorne without a constant police presence."